I think the on shore wind farm subsidy regime has historically little to commend it and this article raises my suspicions further. It tells us:

Proposals to power High Speed 2 using wind farms would breach official procurement rules, a Tory peer has warned ministers.

Viscount Ridley, the science writer and former businessman, claimed that a plan drawn up on behalf of the government owned-body building the railway involved a “hidden subsidy” that would ultimately be passed onto taxpayers or added to the cost of tickets.

The peer’s intervention came after The Sunday Telegraph revealed how a strategy document commissioned by the Government proposed powering the controversial rail line using onshore wind farms spanning the equivalent of 19,000 football fields.

The strategy set out prices that would be pre-agreed with energy firms, at rates…